A Niskayuna resident has tied her oil paintings and poetry together for an art show that stems from a children’s book she released earlier this year.
Elizabeth MacFarland, a Burnt Hills native, started working on a children’s book, “Butterfly, Dragonfly: Poetry for Children” about two years ago, but she never planned to illustrate the book. MacFarland had poems she wrote during the 1980s and she eventually wanted to bring them to life. She planned to have her cousin illustrate the book, but MacFarland ended up doing the paintings after her cousin started to face health problems.
“I like the fact that other people are now able to enjoy the poems and paintings other than just having it in a drawer,” MacFarland said.
She said she wanted to have artwork for the book that could stand up on its own, and all of her paintings included in the show are from the book. The paintings were inspired and created around the poems.
“I was always drawn to visual arts, even as a child, and I used to try and copy Van Goghs and things like that,” MacFarland said. “I never did study at all. When my boys were little I would do pencil sketches of them.”
When her two boys left home, she said her urge to paint started.
“I got into painting when they left home and I was suffering empty nest syndrome,” she said.
She knew of a teacher in Albany teaching oil painting and started taking lessons in 2001. The first still life painting she finished was on 9/11.
“I heard on the radio what was going on and there I was finishing my first painting,” she said.
Her work is being featured at the Moon & River Cafe, located on South Ferry Street in Schenectady’s Historic Stockade, until the end of December. An opening reception is being held on Friday, Nov. 18, from 6 to 8 p.m. MacFarland also gives piano lessons in her home studio and on Dec. 4 she will play and be accompanied by her students and flutist Laura Bulatao.
“I used to spend hours and hours practicing the piano,” she said. “I am still practicing and doing music, but not as intensively as I used to.”
She said what she enjoys about painting is similar to what she used to enjoy about being at the piano for long periods of time.
“Kind of leave the present moment and go into another place that is very quiet and meditative,” she said. “There is a very real challenge, it is work and I like the challenge of it.”
Every single painting is a process involving many hours of thought. She said she would take different photographs and images and would combine different elements from various sources.
“Painting is hard work, but that is what is so fun about it,” she said.
Over time she has noticed a change in her painting style and she said moving forward she wants to make more statements with her paintings.
“I want to go into less being tied to reality,” she said. “Paintings that involve metaphors or dream-like images … are what I am interested in doing next.”
